ABOITIZ Power Corp. has signed up the country’s largest electric cooperative to 3 megawatts (MW) of power supply, adding the Batangas distribution utility to the list of customers under its clean energy brand.

In a statement on Thursday, AboitizPower said it had closed its partnership with Batangas II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Batelec II) on Dec. 18.

“The Cleanergy supply will be sourced from the Tiwi-MakBan geothermal power plants, which are being operated and managed by AboitizPower subsidiary AP Renewables, Inc. (APRI),” the listed company said, adding that the supply will be used by the electric cooperative for its local retail electricity supply (RES) customers.

Cleanergy is AboitizPower’s brand for clean and renewable energy with several hydroelectric, geothermal and solar power generation facilities.

APRI will also supply Batelec II with a 20-MW emergency power supply for a year, from Dec. 26, 2019 to Dec. 25, 2020. The agreement for the additional Cleanergy supply was signed on Dec. 23, 2019.

AboitizPower, the holding company for the Aboitizes’ investments in power generation, distribution, and retail electricity services, quoted Batelec II General Manager Octavious M. Mendoza as saying: “We’ve been in the business for over four decades, and this is the first time we have decided to venture into the open access business and activate our local retail electricity supplier.”

A local retail electricity supplier is a power distribution utility’s business segment that delivers power to customers whose consumption reached the threshold set by the regulator. These big power users or “contestable” customers are allowed to contract supply with a private RES or a local RES.

“To make a difference, we have decided to source renewable supply to serve our contestable customers. It’s such a bold move so we need a dependable partner to support us in this sustainability journey, and we trust AboitizPower can do just that,” Mr. Mendoza said.

AboitizPower described the partnership as “favorable” because APRI’s geothermal plants are in Batangas and the neighboring province of Laguna.

Juan Alejandro A. Aboitiz, AboitizPower first vice-president for energy trading and sales, said he was pleased that Cleanergy was chosen as partner of choice of Batelec II.

“It’s an honor for us to serve the growing number of customers who are pushing for a more sustainable energy source,” he said.

So far, AboitizPower and its partners has around 1,200 MW of Cleanergy capacity from its hydro, geothermal, and solar power plants that are spread nationwide to support the country’s rapidly growing demand for clean and renewable energy.

Apart from serving its contestable customers through its local retail electricity supply business, Batelec II also supplies electricity to its franchise area of more than 300,000 households across 15 municipalities and two cities in Batangas. — Victor V. Saulon

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